Ohio legislators and Gov. Ted Strickland are nearing the make or break stage in deliberations about a new two-year state budget. With every new piece of bad news about state revenues, their anxiety grows. Yet, to their credit, neither the governor nor lawmakers seem willing to betray Ohio voters on an issue that could provide hundreds of millions of dollars for state government.
Gambling interests have tried repeatedly to gain voter approval for full-scale casinos in Ohio. Each time voters have rejected proposals to expand legalized gambling.
Earlier this year, mindful of the state's fiscal crisis, another strategy was proposed. Strickland and/or the General Assembly could approve casinos without voter approval, it was suggested. Gambling interests hinted that if such action was forthcoming, they would be willing to pay off Strickland and legislators with hundreds of millions of dollars in up-front fees.
Strickland has refused steadfastly to consider such action. Last week, state Senate President Bill Harris joined him.
Harris told a reporter he is more than willing to allow another referendum on casinos. He added that he does not support including casino enabling language in the new state budget.
Good for Harris and Strickland! The temptation for them to take casino promoters' money as a means of helping to balance the budget must be tremendous. They are doing the right thing in insisting that casinos must be approved by voters, however, and we encourage them to maintain that stance.